Breaking Google Captchas for $3 a Day — In the last two months, several Internet security firms have suggested that spammers had devised a way to bust the “captcha” that is protecting Gmail. This would allow them to use the popular e-mail service to drown the rest of the Internet …

Organizing more than one world's information — We like to think big. Vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big (to paraphrase one of my favorite authors). And thanks to the flexibility of Google Maps technology and the world wide web, we've been able to work at a universal scale (literally).

Google's Trojan Horse: Let the Free Ad Serving Begin — One of the biggest misunderstandings in much of the discussion about Google's deal to buy DoubleClick is the perception that DoubleClick actually is involved in selling advertising. — It's not. It sells software that advertisers …

The Yahoo! Search Open Ecosystem — A few weeks ago, we began talking about the new Yahoo! Search open platform. Today, we're releasing more details about two important components of the initiative — the developer platform as well as our support of a number of semantic web standards.

Big Day for FriendFeed — Even though there was some controversy around Louis Gray's post on A-listers joining FriendFeed, it seems that his post, together with the resulting coverage on Techmeme and Robert Scoble writing about it on his blog, brought FriendFeed to a tipping point in terms of getting more mainstream exposure.

Hello BlackBerry, Meet the iPhone — Before you start reading this, a word of warning: this column is about the iPhone. If you're one of those people who are sick and tired of hearing about the iPhone, then scroll on while you still can. — Then again, if you're one of those people …

MSN exec Bradford leaving for ad company — Microsoft executive Joanne Bradford, who has been a key player in the company's MSN and online advertising units, is leaving to join Spot Runner Inc., according to a news release issued this morning by the Los Angeles-based advertising technology company: PDF, 2 pages.

Apple TV DVR interface revealed in patent filings — A series of Apple patent filings published this week reveal a version of the Apple TV media device capable of browsing and recording live television programming in addition to serving up pre-aired content from the company's iTunes Store.

Andersen attorney on RIAA suit: “They can't run now” — Friday may mark a significant milestone in the RIAA's legal campaign against file-sharing, as it is the deadline for exonerated RIAA defendant Tanya Andersen to refile her malicious prosecution lawsuit against the record labels.

Bebo: By the (Not So Big) Numbers — What's AOL getting for its $850 million in cash to purchase of social-networking site, Bebo? — A very attractive social-networking service and a very experienced exec who has been running it. — But, perhaps more importantly for those who focus on pesky numbers …

Where Have the YouTube Watermarks Gone? — You know how YouTube has its little logo overlaid in white in the bottom right corner of all its videos? Well, it seems to have gone missing. On both videos on and off the site, the files are playing free of any YouTube branding on top of the videos themselves.

Source: Yahoo in informal talks with Microsoft — Microsoft and Yahoo are holding informal merger discussions, marking a shift from the “radio silence” that previously existed between the two companies, according to a source familiar with the talks. — A lot has changed over the past two weeks …